A/N: Only thing to say about this chapter is that it's a non-magic AU. Hope you enjoy!
Chapter 4: The Day you Left
It was a typical Thursday evening at the Diaz household in Echo Creek. Marco mentally ran through his checklist. Nachos? Done. Movie setup? Good to go. Parents out of the house so he didn't have to deal with them taking so called "adorable" pictures of him and his guest? Perfect. Speaking of his guest, his lifelong best friend was there as per usual, but something was off.
Star Butterfly had been his absolute best friend for as long as he could remember. They'd gone to school together, gone on all sorts of wacky adventures, and had been each other's, platonic, dates for every sweet 16, Quinceañera, bar-mitzvah, Christmas party, and school function imaginable. When people had mocked him by calling him the "safe-kid", it had been Star who had turned it into a term of endearment. When she had developed a near obsession with Sailor Moon, it had been Marco who had willingly dressed up as Tuxedo Mask to accompany her to the Halloween parties, anime conventions, and that one time she insisted on going to dinner in costume. Marco still didn't understand that one. He had been the first to get his driver's license since he was a couple months older, so he'd been the driver on road trips and beach day. She'd been the *ahem* social butterfly, and so when they'd gotten into high school everyone wanted the popular Star to attend. She'd always accepted, provided Marco could come along too. The last couple of years people had evens started assuming that they were dating. No matter how many times they both denied it!
Through it all, Star had been a seemingly endless ball of light, laughter, and energy. Seriously, keeping her still when she was excited for something, like say, nachos and a movie with her bestie, was damn near impossible. And yet tonight, she was just sitting there quietly, not really saying or doing much of anything. Marco had a feeling he knew the reason, and he was pretty sure he was it. This wasn't just any friendship Thursday, it was Marco's last one at home. About a month ago Marco had gotten an amazing offer, a full scholarship to his dream school! The only problem is it was halfway across the country and plane tickets were expensive. He wouldn't be coming home all that often. Tomorrow he would be boarding a flight for move-in weekend. Star on the other hand had chosen a good, but local, school to attend. She was an only child and her parents both had minor health issues. She felt guilty that by going away she wouldn't be there to help take care of them and so had opted to be closer to home. This would likely be the last time they would see one another until Christmas…maybe.
Not knowing exactly how to fix the situation, Marco fell back on a tried and true method. He was going to make Star laugh so hard she would forget whatever was bringing her down.
"Hey." He said, Star glancing up slightly as Marco sat down next to her on the couch. "Remember all those trips to the Bounce Lounge? And that time you twirled me around so hard you almost threw me into the DJ?" Star gave a half chuckle at that one.
"Yeah… good times. Shame it closed down. Who would've guessed a club catering exclusively to broke teenagers would actually be making all it's money from running cocaine?" Marco shook his head in mock seriousness, "Truly, no one ever could've foreseen such an outcome. How about all those camping trips to Echo Creek Woods?"
"Marco those were like 15 minutes from your house, pretty sure that didn't count as real camping."
"Didn't stop you from getting all scared and making me snuggle with you all night."
Star started blushing furiously and crossed her arms over her chest. "That happened ONCE Marco! One time! And you promised never to bring it up again!" Marco was now laughing hard. "Alright, alright. One last one. Remember that time you were really upset so I tickled you until you started laughing so hard you cried?"
Star scrunched up her brow at the one. "No, I actually don't remember that one at all." Marco got an absolutely evil look in his eye. "Welllllll….maybe this will help you remember!" And with that, Marco launched himself across the couch at Star, years of friendship having taught him all her weak spots. Before long Star was a giggling and wheezing mess.
"Oh *giggle* yeah *pant* Diaz? You want to *uncontrollable laughing* play it like that? Cause two can play at this game!" And with that Star, just as familiar with all of Marco's weak points, quickly turned the tables. Between fits of laughter Marco managed to get out "Bring it on Butterfly!" And the ultimate tickle fight of the century ensued, nachos and movie night long forgotten. This continued on for some time until the two friends ended up falling off the couch in a tangled heap of intertwined limbs, Marco blushing furiously at the compromising position he now found himself in.
Marco was laying on top of Star, their legs intertwined, his chest and arms pinning her to the floor, and their faces so close they were practically breathing the same air. He found himself getting lost in the deepness of her crystal blue gaze. He had yet to find an ocean or stream that came close to reflecting the purity he now found himself staring into. Marco could swear at that moment he could see into his bestie's very soul. He saw the joy she felt in that moment slowly eating at the lingering sorrow of his imminent departure, and something else. Something he couldn't quite identify. Any thought on what that mystery moment might be came to a crashing halt, indeed every thought that had ever moved through the young Latino's mind seemed to cease existing, as he felt a warmth on his lips. Glancing downward he eyes confirmed what his brain was unable to even begin processing, Star Butterfly, his best friend, was kissing him!
It could've been an hour, it could've been five seconds. Time had lost all relevance at this point, but eventually, and frankly far too soon in Marco's opinion, Star broke the kiss, a deep blush gracing her angelic face, golden hair splayed out behind her. Reaching up to gently place a hand on his check, Star softly whispered, "I love you Marco, I just wanted you to know that before you leave."
Yep. Every last neuron in Marco's head ceased functioning. Was he breathing? Could he remember how? He knew he should probably be saying something, saying anything! Star was looking at him with a mixture of expectation and embarrassment, but at this point asking Marco to string two coherent words together was like asking a dog to teach physics. All that came out was a sort of *drrrrrr* sound. If this had been a cartoon, his eyes might have gone blue and a robotic voice might've involuntarily made him say something along the lines of "critical system error, rebooting in progress." Unfortunately, this was real life and the longer Marco sat there in stunned silence, the more Star looked like she was going to burst into tears.
"I know it was stupid of me to do that! Stupid Star! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" She got up and made to leave the house. "I'm so sorry Marco." She said not facing him, barely fighting back the torrent threatening to pour out of her eyes. "I'll just go home now, don't worry about calling me when you get settled in, I'm sure I just ruined our friendship anyway." As she was halfway out the door, the one percent of Marco's brain still functioning made an executive decision, Star couldn't leave. He never wanted to see her leave. Acting on pure instinct, he leaped off the couch and ran to Star, grabbing her by the waist and spinning her around. Before Star could even question what was going on, Marco leaned in and planted the most passionate kiss he'd ever given anyone onto Star's lips, practically crushing her against his chest as he held onto her, determined not to let her go. Now it was Star's turn to cease all brain function. Part of her wondered whether this meant Marco loved her too; a much larger part said screw it *interesting choice of words there* and went with it. Star's eyes slid closed and she turned her head slightly to the side to deepen the kiss, running her fingers through his brown hair, eliciting a moan from the young man.
Eventually the two ended the kiss and just looked at each other. "Wow…" was all Marco could manage. "That was just…wow." Star giggled at that, lazily tracing circles on Marco's chest.
"So…does this mean you love me too?"
"I…I guess it does"
"You guess Diaz?"
"I'm still holding you, aren't I?" That was true, neither of them had relaxed the intensity of their embrace. Star nuzzled into the crook of Marco's neck. "I want to hear you say it Marco," she whispered into his ever-present red hoodie.
Marco took a deep breath to steady his nerves, "I love you."
Star could've died happily right then. Although….. "One more time?" She asked grinning into his chest. This time Marco titled her head up and kissed her softly.
"I love you, Star Butterfly."
"Good. Cause I love you too, Marco Diaz."
If possible, Marco tightened the hug even further. "I'll work on campus for some extra money to come home more often. And I'll write to you, every day! And I'll send goofy pictures of all the dumb things I do and we can talk on the phone and….." Star cut him off with another kiss.
"It all sounds wonderful Marco, but right now why don't we just enjoy our….I guess we can't exactly call it friendship Thursday anymore can we?"
Marco grinned, reluctantly breaking the hug although still holding Star's hand as they made their way back to the couch. "No, but relationship Thursday doesn't have such a bad ring to it either now does it?"
"See Diaz, this is why you're the smart one."
"And you're the cute one," Marco replied as he sat down on the couch, eliciting a giggle from his best frien….from his girlfriend. That was going to take some getting used to. Star meanwhile was still standing in front of him, looking intently at the couch as if contemplating something.
Marco grew nervous, "Star? Everything alright?"
Rather than sit down on the couch next to him, Star instead slowly slid herself into Marco's lap. "Everything's just fine Marco. I was just figuring out where my new favorite seat on the couch is. This seems like a good fit." Marco could only stutter as a blush crept over his face. "That's not going to be a problem, is it?" Star flirtatiously whispered, leaning in closer to him as a sultry smile grew on her face.
"Nope! No problem at all! This is great! Fantastic really!"
"Good." Star leaned in and kissed him. "Because you're going away and mama needs her Marco fix."
"Star please don't call it that."
"Hmmm….No!" And with that any further protest by Marco was cut off in a hail of kisses. As Marco lay in bed that night after having sent Star home despite her insistent protests that she be allowed to spend the night, "They'd had slumber parties together before after all!" He thought about how much more complicated his life had just become and what all this would mean for him down the line. Turning the issue over in his head from ever angle, Marco could only come up with one definitive conclusion, "So totally worth it."
One week later…
The first week at college had been hectic for Marco as he struggled to navigate the higher work load, figure out where all his classes were, and try in vain to remember half of the names of all the new people he'd met. Walking to his mailbox and waving to a couple of early friends he'd made in his advanced history class, Marco opened the slot to find an envelope practically drowning in hearts and sealed on the back with a butterfly sticker. Couldn't imagine who this could be from, he thought to himself with a chuckle. Opening it, Marco was surprised not to find a letter, but rather a poem.
The day you left
Was the hardest of goodbyes
The warmth had left my life
The sun gone from my sky
When will he return?
My shining light and day
Thawing out the winter of my lonely heart
To a Spring of abundant love
I shall sit for him by the window
As the maiden does for her knight
For I know one day we shall meet again
My heart will burst at the sight
Marco was stunned. Star had never written him a poem before. He couldn't remember a time when Star had even read a poem before! He took off at a run for his dorm, already running through and discarding stanzas and rhymes in his head. This reply needed to be perfect! As a goofy grin stuck itself firmly on his face Marco thought of a good opening line. Now then, what goes well with my guiding bright star?
A/N: A very Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and just a general happy holidays to you all! I was going to go with a traditional Starco Christmas or Stump Day story but this one was basically written already and I wanted to post something today. I want to say how thankful I am to those who have reviewed, favorited, or followed this one-shot series. It makes me happy to know others are enjoying this work and I appreciate the positive feedback so far! More to come later this week so keep an eye out!